hi from mendoza

Hey there. Apologies for not posting earlier. When I said "probably will not post on the first day", I really meant "will not post until it is the night before I have to leave at six the following morning".
My family and I are currently residing in a rent-a-house in Mendoza, Argentina. This place is known for its wine and for its.... wine. Wine is a big deal here. Naturally, to take advantage of that fact, I got WASTED with some Austrian dudes down at the local pub. But not really. I went to bed at ten thirty after spending two hours taking notes on Keynesian economics in the 1930s. Man it was crazy.
Our house here is quite large. And when I say quite large I mean it is almost as big as my house back in Minnesota. I have the following
Two living rooms
Two dining rooms
A loft
A room to myself
Two beds IN that room
Four bathrooms
A kitchen with meal fixin's
A personal swimming pool (no joke)
A stone pizza oven
Two grills
A lawn

So yeah, this counts as grade-A classy. I think I will be sad when I am sharing a 200 square foot hostel room with four other people and a rusty sink as a bath. Ah... what memories it will make.
The other day our family and I rented a bunch of suprisingly functioning bikes that we took to the vineyards, where, unfortunately, we did not see King Kong OR Godzilla (sorry patrick). At our first winery, I got to see how wine was made through a process of picking, squeezing, filtering, aging, and drinking. At the final tasting part, I was asked my age to see if I could drink the wine. Unfortunetely, I had to tell the truth. The guide made the understandable statement that she did not wish to go to jail. That was a fair request. I drank the wine anyway.
At the following winery, there were actual grape vines growing over the doorway to the factory. By bros and I just hung out there for fifteen minutes and at grapes, spitting out seeds as we went along. Non-seedless grapes are a total bummer.
Yesterday, we all went to on a white water rafting trip. The basic premise of white water rafting is you attempt to wedge your feet under the canvas of an inflatable raft as you hurl yourself down rapids and attempt to paddle but really smack your paddle into everyone else's. Even before we got in the water, we had walked through ankle deep mud while carrying a raft that almost weighed 200 lbs. More than one of us lost our shoes. I was not one of them.
All set in our dorky looking helmets and over-sized life jackets, we set off into the rapids. The guide made sure to encourage us to paddle as fast as we could, while telling my brother to kneel in the front of the boat and stick his head over the side. Needless to say, he arrived back at his seet more than moist. I thought this was funny until we hit a rock and my precariously perched bum on the side of the raft was lifted into the air and I went sailing off the side- only to be caught by the guide at the last minute, pulling me on board. Getting wet suddenly wasn't as funny.
Anyway, we pack up tonight to head to Pategonia, which is the southernmost tip of South America. This time we will be in Chile. Here the temperatures can reach as low as 40°F! I might have to put on a heavy sweatshirt! Haha Minnesota! I win.

Comments:
You wrote a song? That's almost affectionate! I recommend emailing it to me?

Stephanie, you are really bad at commenting first. Yes, those falls were indeed in Planet Earth. About the name Alfred? Sorry... no. Your words of advice including green cheese are... not useful....

Yes I have gotten a tan! I bet it is some paint color like "Fiji nights" or something. fiji night sounds sexy... And by the way, haircuts usually do look like the original thing, just shorter. Acute observation.

I think I am having fun too kiko

Paige... your life = pretty sucky. In pity for you, I will transfer some of my happyness towards you virtually. Whiplash and Dr. Suess also sounds pretty sucky. I'm sorry, and if it makes you feel any better: El mundo está terminando.

Loca Tia Lauri! It is so nice to hear from you. Indeed, the worst is to come. The artistic photos are sadly not taken by me, but by your brother.

Steph: here is a virtual high five for checking out my blog. You get double if you come again.

Darius: you actually sound like the world's biggest geek. Too bad I outrank you.

I'll keep my eye out for a mud skipper, but it may be hard because of the blinding joy of seeing a bunny made out of punctuation. I cannot tell you how happy that makes me.

Carmen, go away. Nobody likes you. Except not really. Congrats on emailing me. I will try to email you back... maybe

Joe, life sucks for you too! Man, everybody I know is sick! Just for you being sick, I am going to go out of my way to find a sombrero.

Thats it. I'll post again.... at a time... in the near (but maybe not so near) future.